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Spesiale professor in die Departement Linguistiek en Literatuurwetenskap, Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit
Die toegepaste linguistiek – 'n toekomsblik
Abstract
Applied linguistics – a glimpse of the road ahead. Applied linguistics as an academic discipline is here viewed not only as “academic”. There are connotations in the description “applied” that suggest that insights gained from research in a variety of disciplines used as a point of departure should ideally contribute to practical implementation in a wide spectrum of human endeavour. This includes language teaching in formal education and training, functional literacy, academic support in a language used as language of learning. Our research should, for example, yield expertise for the production of textbooks and other learning materials. The context, however, is the reality of time and place. The South African context demands asking questions relating to our changing society, and the social and economic factors that will determine our future. It also requires an understanding of what politicians, sociologists and educationists mean when they talk about equity and transformation. It means that applied linguists cannot divorce themselves from the practical realities in which they operate.
Key words: applied linguistics; inter-disciplinary; language teaching; challenges
Educational consultant: Adult Basic Education and Training
Evaluating the role of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET), in terms of fulfilling the need for literacy in English, in the private sector
Abstract
Although literacy efforts in South Africa were standardised and legitimised by the establishment of the National Qualifications Framework in 1995, Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programmes are dwindling in numbers. Firstly, this paper seeks to position ABET within the National Qualifications Framework in a discussion of the principles of the NQF and the correlation between ABET and formal education. The way in which language is addressed in ABET is evaluated in terms of the unit standards which have been written for language and communication and the assessment thereof. Secondly, ABET in the private sector is discussed and its functioning according to the principles of the NQF is evaluated. The reasons why it is not flourishing in the corporate sector are investigated, as are the integration of education and training in Adult Basic Education. The opinion is expressed in this article that the success of ABET programmes or their failure to bridge the divide between education and training will determine how ABET is valued by industry. A case study from the private sector forms the basis for the discussion in the second part of this paper. Finally, recommendations are made for an alternative vocational ABET route which will enable ABET programmes to meet NQF requirements and the needs of industry for literacy in English.
Key words: Department of Education, ABET, NQF, SAQA, levels, unit standards, outcomes
Florida
An investigation into the competence of workplace trainers to meet the special learning needs of under-prepared learners*
Abstract
This article focussses on the competence of trainers in the South African workplace to provide training to underprepaired learners whose special learning need should be understood by the trainers. The National Qualifications Framework, brought into being by the South African Qualifications Authority Act of 1995, has as one of its goals the development of a competent workforce. This goal is shared by the business sector who is aware that only a competent employee can make a meaningful contribution to organisational growth. The writer investigated the capacity of South African trainers to meet underprepared learners' special need.. She found that most trainers who are confronted by underprepared learners are not able to provide all the special support that they require.
Key words: SA workforce; under-prepared learners; NQF; competence of trainers; culture and learning; unit standards
Opsomming
Hierdie artikel is gerig op die vaardigheid van opleiers in die Suid-Afrikaanse werkplek om opleiding te verskaf aan ondervoorbereide leerders met wie se spesiale leerbehoeftes opleiers bekend moet wees. Die Nasionale Kwalifikasieraamwerk, in die lewe geroep deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Kwalifikasie Wetgewing van 1995, het as een van sy doelwitte die ontwikkeling van 'n bevoegde werkerskorps. Die doelwit word gedeel deur die sakesektor wat daarvan bewus is dat slegs bevoegde werknemers 'n betekenisvolle bydrae kan lewer tot organisatoriese groei. Die skrywer het die vaardigheid van opleiers deur beskrywende navorsing ondersoek. Resultate van die ondersoek dui daarop dat die meeste opleiers wat met ondervoorbereide leerders gekonfronteer word, nie in staat is om al die nodige ondersteuning te verskaf nie.
Departement Lingistiek en Literatuurwetenskap, Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit
Akademiese geletterdheid: Van studie-vaardighede tot kritiese geletterdheid
Abstract
Academic literacy: From study skills to critical literacy. Tertiary institutions have been complaining for years about the poor reading and writing skills of first-year students who enter various fields of study. There is even a strong feeling that in many cases students' skills do not improve much during their studies at university. The transformation of educational institutions over the past decade to multicultural institutions and the bigger accessibility of these institutions for students from previous disadvantaged communities, moreover brought about the realisation that there are big inequalities among cultural groups regarding general readiness for studies at a university. This article makes a case for the inclusion of critical literacy in academic literacy programmes against the background of insights from the Bakhtinian school, the functional-systemic linguistics, the cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis, genre studies, socioliteracy studies en critical linguistics.
Key words: academic literacy; study skills; academic socialisation; language in social context; cognition; discourse ideology; critical literacy
Sleutelwoorde: akademiese geletterdheid; studievaardighede; akademiese sosalisering; taal in sosiale konteks; kognisie; diskoers; ideologie; kritiese geletterdheid
Department of Linguistics and Literary Theory, Rand Afrikaans University
Metacognitive reading skills in academic support: A transactionist perspective of the relationship between reading and learning
Abstract
This article argues that metacognitive reading skills are basic to learning across the curriculum and suggests that designers and presenters of academic support programmes would be wise to eschew the teaching of grammar and critical discourse which are common components of academic support programmes, and instead to concentrate on producing programmes which are designed specifically to develop the metacognitive reading skills of under-achieving and under-prepared students. Effective reading skills are transferable to many other domains, are a prerequisite for effective writing skills, underpin second-language learning and are fundamental for any academic study.
It is argued that reading skills be taught and developed from a transactionist perspective of reading which, although it shares certain characteristics with constructionist/constructivist perspectives, nevertheless has significant differences.
Key words: Metacognitive reading skills; academic support; under-achievement; models of reading; listening and reading competence; teaching strategies
Elbie Henning en Wilhelm van Rensburg
Department of Curriculum Studies, Rand Afrikaans University
Academic development in writing composition: Beyond the limitations of a functionalist and pragmatic curriculum
Abstract
The focus of this article is two-fold. The authors briefly report on an inquiry into student writing in a two-year Education masters programme and argue for an integrated perspective on the development of scholarship as it interfaces with academic writing. Their thesis on South African students, who use the medium of teaching and learning English as an additional (second or third) language, and who have not been able to attend university on a full-time basis before, need more than language and writing proficiency for successful writing composition (and scholarship development) in their academic careers. They also need critical socialisation, in which they are afforded the opportunity to develop multiple academic literacies and a personal academic identity that values inquiry. A premise of the argument is that this process cannot be facilitated incidentally in the typical functionalist and pragmatic curriculum of the `busy university'.
Key words: academic development; writing composition; New Literacies; academic literacies; writing centre
Footnotes
* This article is based on research for the degree D.Litt. et Phil., prepared under the supervision of Professor H. Kroes in the Department of Linguistics and Literary Theory, RAU.
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
The lecturer doesn't have a rewind button – addressing the listening difficulties of mainstream L2 students at a New Zealand University
Abstract
This article details an attempt to produce tapes of academic lectures to enable mainstream L2 students to improve their listening skills. Very little material for second language speakers is developed in New Zealand, and almost all material available to improve listening skills is produced in Australia, Britain or America. Students are not being exposed to the kind of English they hear in most lectures in this institution. The project was an attempt to meet the need for material aimed at the particular needs of L2 students studying in New Zealand. However, student feedback indicated that even provision of schema and guiding questions was not sufficient to overcome the difficulties they experienced with the tapes. The difficulties involved in using authentic material and providing adequate schema are discussed. Research indicates that videos of short introductory lectures would probably better meet the needs of L2 students who wish to develop their comprehension of academic lectures.
Key words: listening difficulties; accompanying material; schemata; worksheets; tapes
Director, DMB Consultants: Education Services
Language equity and assessment in South African education*
Abstract
This paper argues that language and assessment are closely linked and that the Language-in-Education policy and other additive bilingual initiatives have failed to address educational equity in South African schools. Despite the aspirations of politicians to move towards a policy of multiculturalism through the additive approach to bilingualism in education, it is the opinion of this study, that this policy essentially remains a symbolic gesture.
Key words: language equity; assessment; multilingualism; English as medium of instruction; differential outcomes
School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand
On the Possibility of a Cultural Psychology Theory of Pedagogy
Abstract
The most viable paradigm for conducting research in a developing country is that of socio-historical-cultural psychology. To date this paradigm has been able to clarify how dissimilar people act differently in their own situated contexts. The effects of mediated learning in context, an important unit of analysis for the discipline, have been seen in literacy and learning contexts. The paradigm, although originally very clear about the cognitive consequences of formal schooling has in recent times been a little more careful about the claims that it makes. Although the paradigm is burgeoning, to date, we do not have a theoretically motivated account of learning in formal contexts, and this paper attempts to break new ground in this area. The implications of cultural psychology for formal language learning are teased out.
Key words: cultural psychology; pedagogy; Vygotsky; theory of knowledge; potential development; remedial education; development of concepts; moral development
Educational Consultant, Basil, Switzerland
Narrative discourse in research on teaching*
Abstract
Recent reading on the practices and discourses of academic research prompted me to investigate the conventions of research reporting, especially in the field of teaching. When researchers have gathered information on their hypotheses (or research questions) in a systematic fashion, reflected on the meaning and implications of the information, and arrived at certain conclusions, they evaluate, interpret and analyse the information and, finally, put it forward in the form of some kind of report. Such reports often take the form of journal articles, which present the information in an impersonal, `objective' and rather intimidating fashion. This seemingly `logical' and `pristine' form of presentation conceals the fact that `real research is often confusing, messy, intensely frustrating, and fundamentally non-linear'. In the public writing down of research questions of genre come in, like considering which voice, which form of discourse, would be most appropriate for the research `story' to be told in. Over the past two decades there has been increasing interest in the personal nature of experience and in how people make sense of their worlds by telling stories about them.
Key words: teaching; research reporting; scientific genres; narrative in research
Department of Linguistics and Literary Theory, Rand Afrikaans University
The use of plain language – not that simple
Abstract
The inception of democracy in South Africa in 1994 also saw the birth of a new language dispensation granting 11 languages official status. This, as well as the fact that English is often claimed to be the de facto lingua franca despite the fact that it is not by far the largest language in terms of mother tongue speakers, carries with it concerns relating to successful communication. One solution that has been offered is the introduction of plain language. However, factors such as cross-cultural inference, specific discourse strategies and post-colonial discourse style seem to play an important role in this complex multilingual and multicultural society. These aspects should also be borne in mind in the debate concerning the use of BSAE in the English L2 classroom.
Key words: second language speakers; English; language proficiency; plain language; cross-cultural inference; discourse strategies; post-colonial discourse style
Albert Weideman and Christo van Rensburg
Unit for Language Skills Development, University of Pretoria
Language proficiency: Current strategies, future remedies
Abstract
Language proficiency among young South Africans is low. This is true not only of mother tongue speakers of English and Afrikaans, but also, and especially, of non-mother tongue speakers of English, among whom language proficiency levels raise serious concern. Some examples are given to illustrate the importance of this problem, and the extent of the problem is outlined. In this paper, we focus on one critical factor related to these low proficiency levels. What is important, in addition, is that the conditions, strategies and current remedies are all less than likely to make a difference. In fact, one can safely predict that the situation is likely to worsen. The importance of remedying the present situation is therefore crucial, and we discuss a number of alternatives to do so successfully.
Keywords: language proficiency; English for academic purposes; language of education; reading skills
Footnotes
* Dr. Strauss is a former doctoral student of Prof. Henk Kroes.
* This article is based on research for the degree D.Litt. et Phil., prepared under the supervision of Dr. Moyra Sweetnam Evans, Prof. C.S. Johl and Prof. H. Kroes in the Department of Linguistics and Literary Theory.
* This article is based on research for the degree D.Litt. et Phil, prepared under the supervision of Professor C.S. Johl in the Department of Linguistics and Literary Theory, RAU.